It was clear from the very beginning that the Harmonix X-DC Studio Master Million Maestro power cable was a highly limited product, so it was intended for a small group of customers. Its price only this sealed this exclusivity. I envy the lucky ones who have it in their systems—it is the best power cable, I... Read More »
Serge Prokofiev, Piano Sonatas, Vol. 1. Nos 2, 6, and 8. Alexander Melnikov, Harmonia Mundi HMC 902202. For those of us who find early twentieth century modernism one of the pinnacles, Prokofiev's piano concertos and piano sonatas are among its richest assets. What I have always found especially attractive in this music is a sense... Read More »
Roger Skoff writes about the state of our hobby and the industry that supports it. One of the politicians in the recent U.S. Presidential election asked, with apparently real surprise, "Why am I not fifty points ahead?" Frankly, I'm no expert on politics, so it doesn't surprise me at all that I could not think... Read More »
What's that old saying about the more you learn, the less you know? Boy, does that ever apply to the constantly changing world of audio. Changing technology (and physiology) constantly adjusts what best pleases our ears, as evidenced by a return to my review of the Audio-Technica ATH-A900x headphones four years ago with respect to... Read More »
Déjà vu Audio, one of the nation’s top high end retailers is excited to announce the opening of the third store-Déjà vu Audio West. It is located at 7855 Herschel Ave, La Jolla, CA 92037. Phone is 858-412-4023. Déjà vu Audio was founded in 1995, and now has stores serving Miami, Florida, McLean, Virginia, and... Read More »
At the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas I was showing my UHA tape Decks with Tom Campanga of Quintessence Loudspeakers and PBN electronics. We had a nice size room on the main floor at T.H.E. Show in the Flamingo Hotel, thanks to our late pal Richard Beers. The room just happened to be... Read More »
I began this story to share the "joy of boy finds music again," but quickly realized that it's a story with more hats than that simple narrative could support. As a first time contributor to audio discussions not made via posts to forums; an introduction is appropriate. I am Justin Weber of ampsandsound, a certified... Read More »
Herewith is Impressions: Robinson's Brutus Awards for 2016, Part The Last. Part The First can be found HERE, Part The Second HERE, Part The Third HERE, and Part The Fourth HERE. Music Software/Record Companies/Download Sites Year in and year out, we audiophiles and music lovers rely on our trusted labels, recording companies, re-issuers, and download sites to provide us with... Read More »
Osaka, Japan: December 20, 2016- Zanden Audio is excited to announce the launch of our new model 3000mk2 preamplifier at CES 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. It replaces the current model 3000 preamplifier in the Classic Series and includes a number of crucial improvements. Input and output transformers have been replaced with amorphous cobalt ones.... Read More »
Bryston leverages their award-winning DAC technology to launch a highly refined CD player Peterborough, Ontario December 21st, 2016 –Bryston (bryston.com) has announced the introduction of the BCD-3 CD player. The BCD-3 joins the highly successful family of digital products in the Bryston lineup, including the award-winning BDA-3 DAC (Digital to Analog Converter). The BCD-3 serves... Read More »
12/2016 Deqx In-Home Audition This month DEQX announces a home audition for its speaker-calibration and room-calibration Preamp/processors - starting from just US$2950. Note: All processors allow seamless integration with one or two subwoofers. Basic measurements demonstrate that loudspeaker's only deliver a fraction of the resolution and accuracy of our media, we never get to hear... Read More »
The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter, by David Sax The morning of Black Friday, just two weeks and counting past a very bleak Wednesday, and still a bit drowsy from the previous day's over-indulgence, I opened the front door and stooped to pick up our copy of the NY Times. Instead... Read More »
The Official Debut of MasterBuilt Audio MasterBuilt Audio is pleased to announce the official debut of our high-resolution audio cables with the unveiling of four complete product lines – Performance, Reference, Signature and Ultra – which range from entry-level to the ultimate in signal fidelity. Each of these product lines offers the full range of... Read More »
Herewith is Impressions: Robinson's Brutus Awards for 2016, Part The Fourth. Part The First can be found HERE, Part The Second HERE, and Part The Third HERE. This final installment of my Brutus Awards for hardware in 2016 (there will be a very last installment dealing with labels and music companies) concludes with cables, accessories, and system enhancements. In the... Read More »
YG Acoustics™ (www.ygacoustics.com), the leading ultra-high-end speaker manufacturer, is proud to introduce its first audio rack series: Rack 1.3, 1.4 and 1.6. YG Acoustics™’ Rack series was initially designed as a tool for internal use. The factory’s critical listening room needed a vibration-free, solid platform to allow equipment to play under optimal conditions. In a... Read More »
Anyone who might have read any of my recent babblings here is probably aware that I'm in the process of building a new house that will have a large-ish dedicated listening room with state-of-the-art networking. There will be no computer present in the new room, but there will be available hardwired connections for any peripherals... Read More »
Preoccupations, Preoccupations JAGJAGUWAR, Digital, vinyl, and CD In hindsight, naming a band Viet Cong probably wasn't the best idea, but they did it anyway and controversy ensued. Claims of cultural appropriation and insensitivity sparked outrage from student communities, online communities, and the threat of protest and boycotts forced the hand of concert promoters to cancel shows. That... Read More »
Herewith is Impressions: Robinson's Brutus Awards for 2016, Part The Third. Part The First can be found HERE and Part The Second HERE. There will be a fourth installment to cover this busiest of years...stay tuned! All photographs are courtesy of their respective companies, unless otherwise noted. Aurender W-20 Music Server The Aurender W-20 Reference Music Server, a technological... Read More »
Before I started Love + Gratitude (cuz it's only a week after the first shot at it - sorry bout' that folks ) I made a tactical error in judgement: I remembered that Recondite, one of my favorite electronic artists (writer, engineer, DJ & Superman;) had either just finished an Essential Mix (long-running DJ mix series) or was about to release it.
So here it is the end of 2016 and us with our Brutus Awards. This has been a year with major changes for both Carol and I (we retired from many years as public school educators) and a year where we saw many people being taken from us earlier than anyone expected, needless wars and bloodshed,... Read More »
Although I've been wanting to make it to one of the CAS (Colorado Audio Society) meetings forever, they are usually held in the Denver area. This makes it bit difficult for me, living about an hour and a half away. When I discovered the CAS meeting for November was being held in Colorado Springs, I... Read More »
When this journey/adventure/ordeal started in June, I never imagined in a million years that we'd still be here in the Dungeon in mid-December. To this point, it's been this roller coaster of highs, lows and emotions, fueled by nearly non-stop demands being made by virtually everyone involved in the process of building our new home.... Read More »
OPPO Releases UDP-203 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Player Award-winning universal players reach a new level of clarity OPPO Digital today announced that the new UDP-203 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc player is ready for release. A successor to the award-winning BDP-103 series universal Blu-ray Disc player, the UDP-203 is the latest product released by... Read More »
Gather around, audiosports fans! It's that time of year again…Positive Feedback's Brutus Awards season. Here is 'Part The Second' of Robinson's Brutus Awards 2016. Part The First can be found HERE and Part The Third HERE. Electronics, Part 1 Gryphon Audio Kalliope Quad and Qcto (256fs and 512fs) DSD DAC The Gryphon Audio Kalliope DSD DAC upon arrival…... Read More »
Finally, the third and last of John Marks' Christmas recommendations for us. Delmoni... a String Quartet Christmas...a real treasure to us all. Thanks to friend John! And Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! Dr. David W. Robinson, Ye Olde Editor A String Quartet Christmas Arturo Delmoni & Friends Steinway & Sons Recordings... Read More »
Herein, John Marks Christmas Music 2: "Carols of the Nativity". Thanks to John for these musical gifts during this holiday season! Dr. David W. Robinson, Ye Olde Editor Christmas Night – Carols of the Nativity The Cambridge Singers and the City of London Sinfonia, conducted by John Rutter. Collegium CD 106 or download (Recorded January 1987 by the... Read More »
'Tis the season! John Marks leads us into Christmas time with a trio of short essays on three different artists and albums, together with samples from each. This is Christmas Music Part 1: Nat King Cole, "Christmas Favorites". As always, friend John does a delightful job of leading us into the music, instead of just... Read More »
Gather around, audiosports fans! It's that time of year again…Positive Feedback's Brutus Awards season. You can find Part The Second HERE and Part The Third HERE. At the end of each year, my unindicted co-conspirator Dave Clark and I give our Positive Feedback awards. These are our annual "best stuff we heard this year" plaudits. No padding, crap, junk food, or... Read More »
Time with fellow music lovers, intimate demonstrations of cutting-edge technology, all brought together by a gracious host is a humbling reminder of why brick-and-mortar stores are critical for music lovers everywhere. The Venue (December 3, 2016) Fidelis Home Audio in Nashua, New Hampshire is a safe-haven for music lovers and audiophiles alike. Walter Swanbon heads... Read More »
Ustvolskaya, Silvestrov, and Kancheli. Works for Piano and Orchestra. Elisaveta Blumina, piano. Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Thomas Sanderling. Grand Piano Records GP 678. To many music lovers, the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries belong to the composers of Eastern Europe and Russia. Notable among this group are Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2000), Valentin Silvestrov (b. 1937), and... Read More »
The Ghost Town, or Corriganville, Old Tucson and Bodie [Once again, my longtime compadre of creativity, Dan Zimmerman combines text and his superb drawings to reflect upon life, death, memory, and art. Let those who have eyes and those who have ears, see and hear… All drawings by Dan Zimmerman. Dr. David W. Robinson, Ye... Read More »
"It's so easy to fall in love." Buddy Holly and Norman Petty might have just as easily been writing about reel-to-reel tape as finding one's soulmate (although tapes are not for fools!). Everything from the machines' "retro" look to the "coolness" factor to the feel of spooling up the tape to the look of the... Read More »
GHOSTWIRE: The Return of Silverheart In 2014 Chris Sommovigo had a little side project called A.H.A or “After Hours Audio” where he made a few cables designs in extremely limited quantities and sold them to a small ‘membership’ for quite low prices. Power cords, loudspeaker cables, interconnects were among the bounty. Of these limited-edition products... Read More »
So for the past few months I have had the pleasure of using Ron Sutherland's DUO phono stage as the means of taking this from my Transrotor Leonardo 25/25/60 Doppio turntable, audiomods' Series 5 arm, and the Shelter 901 cartridge, and turning it into that for analog playback. Our current 'reference' phono stages are either the... Read More »
Nessun Dorma: The Puccini Album It's happened again. I'd read several years' worth of pro-and-con about Ian Bostridge before hearing the fellow, on a recital disc that I reviewed for this site a few years back. Now, after hearing numerous encomia for tenor Jonas Kaufmann, I've finally heard him sing. Given the novel repertoire for... Read More »
New GoldenEar Technology Dual-Plane Inertially-Balanced SuperSub™ X Subwoofer is Now Shipping GoldenEar’s new SuperSub™ line up is a very special group of ultra-high-performance compact subwoofers that incorporate many recently developed unique and advanced technologies and components. The goal was to create beautifully styled, finely finished, reasonably sized subwoofers, that could generate very low frequency... Read More »
Cary Audio would like to introduce the first product of the new Lifestyle Series, the AiOS (All-in-One-System). AiOS is a new kind of music system for a new generation. What does that mean? Simply put, music lovers and audiophiles alike have many more choices today when it comes to how they listen to music. As... Read More »
